Looks like we're screwed.
And it’s hard to say we couldn’t see it coming.
Brilliant human minds made it all possible – they just didn't think hard enough upon the matter to reach the only logical conclusion, and that was to resist the urge.
Artificial Intelligence is developing at astonishing rates, and soon, if not already, at least in some cases, it will be impossible for flesh-and-blood people sophisticated and not so much to distinguish a bona fide video or photo from an AI job and the moral, social, legal and political implications are beyond ominous.
It's today's real life Frankenstein's monster. In her 1818 gothic novel, Mary Wolstencroft Shelley gave us an ambitious scientist Victor who learned the hard way that some things definitely shouldn't be tinkered with. What did we learn?
The Wright Brothers on Dec. 17, 1903 took to the skies with the first, albeit necessarily primitive, airplane. Not 44 years later, pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier on Oct. 14, 1947. Well before computers took flight, look what was accomplished.
How long has AI been around and what will it be in 44 years?
Think about it. Brave new world indeed.
People’s perception of reality has been under attack ever since the first jerk uttered the first lie. But our collective crush on social media and those hand-held devices you see people staring at, eyes transfixed, at bus stops, in crosswalks and everywhere else, renders today's human mind ripe for deception.
So what’s the fix? Watermarks?
If you google watermark, the "AI overview" at the top of the page tells you it's an identifying marker (hopefully visible) that's typically used in postage stamps and currency to discourage counterfeiting. Great idea. Separate the real from the unreal, right.
Problem solved?
Nope.
The University of Waterloo revealed in July that its Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute researchers created an “UnMarker” tool that can remove AI image watermarks, essentially erasing any possible means of protecting ourselves in a sure-fire way against being “deep-faked” – that's a new-fangled way of saying deceived. The only defence against being "deep-faked" then is a priori knowledge when a posteriori isn't available, listening to your gut, sticking your head in the ground like an ostrich, and the absence of those who would manipulate you. Good luck with that.
In the Middle Ages, naval maps marked uncharted waters with the caveat "Here there be monsters." In other words, don't go there. And if you dare, and if your ship isn't destroyed by a sea serpent or Kraken or whatever, you risk sailing your ship off the edge of the earth after reaching that dreaded "Point of No Return."
Is ours a brave new world?
Apocryphal, I'd say.
